{"id":899030,"date":"2026-06-28T17:44:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T17:44:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/899030\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T17:44:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T17:44:16","slug":"opinion-as-america-turns-250-we-must-tell-the-full-story-of-our-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/899030\/","title":{"rendered":"Opinion: As America turns 250, we must tell the full story of our history"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"An<\/a>An American flag billows in the wind on a bright, cloudy day at the Spreckles Organ Pavilion in Balboa Park on Jan. 21, 2026. (Photo by Thomas Murphy\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

America is turning 250. Amid the fireworks, parades and familiar tributes to the founders, one question lingers: when we tell the story of this country, whose story do we choose to tell \u2014 and whose do we leave out?<\/p>\n

\"Opinion<\/a><\/p>\n

We love this country. That is exactly why it is so essential that we tell her full story. And that story cannot be told without the women \u2014 especially the women of color \u2014 who built it alongside the men whose names fill our textbooks.<\/p>\n

For more than 165 of America\u2019s 250 years, YWCA<\/a> has been part of that story. Since 1858, we have stood at the intersection of racial and gender justice \u2014 helping shape a nation still striving to live up to its promise. Our history is not separate from America\u2019s; it is woven into it.<\/p>\n

From our earliest days, YWCA leaders helped define what progress looks like in practice. Women like Rosetta Evelyn Lawson<\/a>, who created safe housing for Black women shut out by segregation. Grace Hoadley Dodge<\/a>, who unified a fragmented movement into a national force rooted in dignity and opportunity for working women. And Dr. Dorothy Irene Height<\/a>, who pushed YWCA \u2014 and our country \u2014 toward a deeper commitment to racial justice, ensuring that equality was not aspirational, but actionable.<\/p>\n

They were not alone. Across generations, YWCA leaders and communities have done the often-unseen work of building systems of care, safety and opportunity \u2014 long before those needs were widely recognized.<\/p>\n

That work became part of the essential, if often overlooked, infrastructure of American life. YWCA helped pioneer professional child care in the United States. Long before domestic violence was named a national crisis, YWCAs were already opening shelters and supporting survivors. Today, local associations across the country continue that legacy \u2014 serving more than one million women, girls and families every year through both advocacy and essential support services.<\/p>\n

This is not a sidebar to the American story. It is the American story.<\/p>\n

But as we approach this milestone anniversary, we face a choice. We can continue telling a version of history that is comfortable and incomplete, or we can embrace a fuller, more honest accounting \u2014 one that reflects both our ideals and our shortcomings.<\/p>\n

Telling a more complete story is not just about recognition; it is about power. Whose experiences shape our institutions? Whose voices influence our policies? Whose realities are reflected in the systems that govern our daily lives? Expanding the narrative must go hand in hand with expanding opportunity, access and leadership.<\/p>\n

At YWCA, this is the work we continue to lead every day. In communities across the country, we are advancing racial justice, empowering women and creating pathways for more people to thrive \u2014 not just in the story we tell about America, but in the systems that define it.<\/p>\n

America at 250 should be more than a celebration. It should be a moment to recognize the full truth of our past \u2014 including the voices and stories too often left out \u2014 and to move forward with intention.<\/p>\n

Because the story of America is still being written. And the next chapter is ours to shape.<\/p>\n

For more than half of this nation\u2019s history, YWCA has been part of that story \u2014 working to expand who is seen, who is heard and who has opportunity. That legacy reminds us that progress is possible when we commit to it, and that inclusion does not happen by chance, but by choice.<\/p>\n

Each of us shares in that responsibility \u2014 in what we choose to learn, whose voices we elevate, and the actions we take in our communities every day. If we are to build a nation that truly reflects all of us, we must move beyond reflection to action: by listening more deeply, challenging inequity and investing in a more just and inclusive future.<\/p>\n

The next 250 years of our nation\u2019s history will be shaped by those choices. And that work does not begin someday \u2014 it begins with us. It begins now.<\/p>\n

Margaret Mitchell is the CEO of YWCA USA and Heather Finlay is the CEO of YWCA San Diego County.<\/a> YWCA one of the nation\u2019s oldest and largest women\u2019s organizations, serving more than one million women, girls, and families annually through a network of over 190 local associations across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An American flag billows in the wind on a bright, cloudy day at the Spreckles Organ Pavilion in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":899031,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,322576,1582,276,472,3549,7264,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,16966,306696],"class_list":["post-899030","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-america","tag-blacks","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-history","tag-san-diego","tag-sandiego","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-women","tag-ywca"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116828980287784319","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899030","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899030"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899030\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899031"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899030"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899030"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899030"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}